Free Queen of the Pirates by Blaze Ward

thinking. Alber’?”
    D'Maine was a dark, serious man. He scowled furiously as he thought. “We hop well short,” he growled. “Clear at the edge of the system so we can watch the orbital mechanics of the IV moons for a bit. Then we hop closer to confirm things, maybe a light–hour out, so we can hear near–real–time comm traffic.”
    He slurped at his coffee and squinted. With one hand, he zoomed the projection until the gas giant was a giant marble taking up one whole edge.
    Suddenly, he smiled. It was a feral event that seemed to take over his entire body as he started to type.
    A set of red arrows appeared inside the projection.
    “Depending on where the moons are, and where they are headed,” he said, “one of these vectors should drop us right on the back side of a base on Alpha , just below a fading horizon. Then we sneak up on them. We should have overwhelming firepower.”
    “It’s still a base on a planetary surface,” Denis interjected. “That means the possibility of Primaries, and maybe even a Type–IV beam.”
    Jessica considered the chances. Primaries were likely, at least a few of them. Would anyone sell pirates a beam–weapon emplacement that big? Probably. It would have been sold to a legitimate buyer as part of a planetary defense array, or stolen while in route. Probably only one, since they were so big and required so much power, but they could force a battleship to keep a respectful distance.
    Even the enormous Fleet HQ at Ladaux had only eight of them, protecting the points of an imaginary cube. Regional bases often had only two or three. Still, best to be prepared.
    “Alber’,” she said, “can you do the same thing here that you did at Qui–Ping ? When IFV Amsel was chasing us?”
    He stared at her blankly for a second. “While dropping into low orbit?”
    “Forget the orbit at this moment,” she replied. “At full speed blasting through.”
    “Absolutely, commander,” he replied with a shark smile. “We practice that maneuver regularly.”
    “Perfect,” she said. “Here’s how we’ll handle the approach…”

Chapter XI
    Date of the Republic October 3, 393 Sarmarsh IV
    “Commander, you’re sure this isn’t a mockup someone made as a training exercise?” her first officer asked with a trace of surprise in his voice.
    “No,” Jessica shook her head as the projection sharpened and revealed the base.
    Auberon and her squadron had been able to see very little from the edge of the system. Jumping to just under forty light minutes out had helped. They had been able to identify the base and listen to the traffic and the sensors the place was running.
    They obviously weren’t expecting trouble, as several scanners were active. Not hostile, but sending pulses out and listening, as if they belonged here.
    The last jump had dropped them close enough to fire a probe over the horizon as they closed.
    The base was a monster.
    Jessica’s sensor centurion, Daniel Giroux, quickly began highlighting gun emplacements, turrets, missile launchers, scanner towers, and an entire flight bay ready to send fighters up to engage them.
    “I’ve seen Regional Fleet Bases less well armed,” the projection of Tomas Kigali said from his bridge.
    “Somebody’s awake over there,” Giroux said. “We’re being hailed by a representative of the government of Corynthe .”
    Giroux paused for a moment as he listened.
    “And we’re apparently trespassing, Commander.”
    Jessica nodded to herself. This had just gotten much bigger than a simple case of highwaymen.
    “Launch the flight wing,” she said.
    Ξ
    Senior Flight Centurion Milos Pavlovic, callsign Jouster , still lived for that surge of acceleration as his little M–5 Harpoon fighter leapt clear of Auberon ’s bow. Across the way, Ainsley Barret, da Vinci , came clear as well, although her P–4 Outrider was a scout and not a knife–fighter. And this would be a knife–fight. But he wanted eyes out here right now. Guns and